Various attachments for broadcast harvesters and combines have been proposed heretofore, but these for the most part, have certain deficiencies which the Applicant proposes to correct or improve upon.
Attachments of this general character, for broadcast combines, are disclosed in the several patents to Irvin D. McEachern, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,929,185, 2,948,100, 3,210,920, 3,392,514 and 3,425,201 and the U.S. Pat. to Roy Durward Lynch, No. 3,600,878. In the manufacture of these attachments and applying them to combines to convert a broadcast type combine into a row type combine, as disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,600,878 to Roy Durward Lynch and by the patents, as listed above to his predecessor, Irvin D. McEachern, the need for certain improvements became apparent, that is, the necessity for protecting the bearings at the lower end of the shaft, on which the rotary cylinder is mounted, against overheating and the lubricant being expelled therefrom due to the expansion of the lubricant within the sealed ball bearing housings on the lower end of the shaft, which mounts the rotary cylinders of the combine.
It was also found that in the harvesting of certain row crops, such as sunflowers, legumes, such as soy beans, maize, Kaffir corn, cane and other grain sorghums, that weeds, stalks, and the like from the crop being harvested, became wrapped around the shaft, at the exposed portion thereof adjacent the bearing housings or the seed gathering pan, which would cause the bearings to become overheated, the lubricant to expand and be expelled, thereby resulting in the untimely wear on the ball bearings on which the shaft is mounted. The upstanding sides of the seed gathering pan also reduces the amount of vegetation to reach the rotating shafts.